Of Proxies And Hunters Chapter 1
by Tosha Goff
Summary: Jaesy Conway; the daughter of Vincent Conway, the lead Proxy hunter, ran away from home because of her father returning home drunk and beating her. She runs into a large group of proxies, the ones her father had been killing. Whether she lives or dies all depends upon one of the proxies that was extremely injured when Jaesy first arrives.


CHAPTER 1

**The** sun glared down on me as I walked alone on a dirt road that leads through the woods. Oh, how I couldn't wait to get out of the heat. A long ways down the road, I had left my drunken father and my stoned mother in the pathetic excuse of a home. I highly doubted they were looking for me. Fuck, I doubted if the even cared!

My bare feet and legs were covered in the dust from this old road, not to mention that my black tank top and dark blue ball shorts were making the summer heat attach itself to me and cover me in sweat. Well, guess that's what comes with running away.

I tossed my curly, shoulder length strawberry blonde locks over my shoulder; squinting my eyes against the brightness of the day. As I got closer to the cool looking woods, I smiled. I know that I could probably take a tiny break to cool off when I got there before I went back to following the old road again. It's somewhat of a comfort to see these woods, though. When I was a little kid I always imagined going here with my family. It wasn't that far from my house either, so I don't see why my dad would yell at me when I mentioned it. Lazy ass. Now that I'm actually able to go there, I'm happy. It's pretty here, a lot of wild flowers and tall grass. There's fresh air, unlike the smell of diesel in town. I like it.

Just to pass the time, I started singing a song that came off the top of my head as I drew closer to the woods. In the middle of my singing, I almost missed the sound of footsteps scurrying off to the woods. I stopped walking and stared after the sound.

"Hello?" I called out. A sudden feeling of unease started rising up in me. Nothing, nothing but bird song answered me. Out of curiosity, I walked towards where the footsteps had run from.

I pushed the tall grass apart and stared for a moment. There was a strange, metal box behind. The silver metal shone brightly as the sun hit its surface, different colored cords were curling up to a small rectangle with numbers in it. It seemed to be a timer and looked as though it was counting down from fifteen seconds….

"What the-…!" was all I got out before recognizing what the box was. It was a bomb? Wait no, not just any bomb. Dad had talked about this kind before when he hadn't come home drunk. He didn't really say much, but he did tell me that people called proxies would put these down. Well, shit.

I shot away from the bomb as fast as I could. I ran straight for the woods and ignored the pain in my feet as each step landed on sharp rocks. I almost sighed in relief as I made it to the outskirts of the woods where there was barely any trees, feeling as though I could make it in time to hide behind a sturdy one. But too little too late, the bomb went off. For something so little, it sure could send some big rocks flying. I heard the big rock before I felt it hit me right in the middle of my back, knocking the breath out of me. I fell to the ground, unable to move as more and more rocks fell around me. Unfortunately, a good sized one landed right on my left arm and between my shoulders. I heard a sick crack and knew that my arm was broken. If that first rock hadn't of knocked the breath out of me, I probably would've been screaming by now.

I lay there, letting out pained moans as the pain increased. Just as I was about to black out, something wrapped around my ankles and up to my waist. The next thing I knew, I was hanging upside down in the air. I heard voices, two- no three, male voices.

I couldn't make out what they were saying over the ringing in my ears. To me it sounded like they were mumbling. I felt their eyes scanning me, glaring actually. I didn't dare open my eyes to the hateful glances of the men. That's when someone ran up behind me, breathing frantically.

"Master!" a young woman's voice yelled.

"What's wrong Cursor?" One of the men asked in a gruff voice. I heard the woman, apparently called Cursor, start sobbing.

"Master… it's Skully!"  
"What about her?"  
"S-She was still out there when the bomb went off!"

At the statement, a shocked silence fell.

"Go back and get her then!" The man yelled. And with that, Cursor left. I heard a demonic growl come from in front of me.

"You have some explaining to do when we get back," he growled, his words laced with venom.

"Mm…." I hummed, feeling dizzy. It was a moment before the man sighed and he started walking. That was when I lost consciousness.

When I first woke, I could barely make out the tall, skinny, pale man in a suit with a top hat on. His suit seemed to be covered in polka dots, bright colors. That might be just me though. He reached a hand down to my shoulder, his hand was strange…. They had a strange, dark gray color with sharp claws.

His 'hand' barely pushed down on my shoulder, as if telling me not to move as he brought his other hand up. I could hear him say something like "This'll help, trust me." I then noticed the syringe in his other hand. I went to pull away, but he pushed down harder on my shoulder.

"It won't hurt," I heard him say. Bullshit. The needle didn't hurt; it was whatever he had in the medicine that set my whole body on fire. It was five long seconds until I passed out again.

I woke up alone in the strange room. I went to sit up, but instantly regretted it when pain flared throughout my body. I slowly laid myself back down, waiting for the strange doctor to walk in. After the pain was almost gone, I grew bored waiting on him. I stared up at the ceiling, on the verge of sleep I was so bored, but then again confused. That's when I started actually thinking.

"Where in God's name am I?" I mumbled to myself. Why were these strange people looking after me? I wonder if they're gonna kill me afterwards… no, that's stupid. It'll be like that man said. They'll ask me questions and when they get what they want, they'll kill me. Sounds about right.

The door creaked open and in stepped my doctor… damn he's tall. Too tall and too skinny to be exact. He turned to me with a smile on his face.

"Why hello!" he greeted me. When I got a good look at him, I realized something was off about this man. He was too tall and too skinny to be human, not to mention too cheerful. His face though, it looked like a smiley face that talked and moved like a normal face.

"What?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. I didn't realize I was staring. Oops.

"Sorry, didn't mean to stare," I said. I tore my eyes from him down to the ground. He just chuckled.

"You sore today?"

"Only when I move."

"Oh, that's a good sign."

"Are you gonna kill me?" I blurted out. As soon as it escaped my lips I blushed in embarrassment. He stared at me for a moment, his face blank of emotion before he shook his head.

"No, well, not at the moment that is. It depends I guess."

"Oh? Did I trespass?"

"No,"

And with that it went quiet. I looked away from the strange man and back to the ceiling.

"How long was I out?" I finally asked. He thought for a moment.

"Until night. You got banged up pretty bad by those rocks, you're lucky you only made it out of there with just a broken arm. Other than that, you're badly bruised Oh and," he added, "Learn to bring a pair of shoes when you're out for a walk." He said to me with a wink.

"I'll remember that," I said, chuckling. His smile widened. "You hungry?" He asked me, standing up.

"Nah," I said with a small smile. He nodded and walked to the door.

"Well, you rest up. Oh, by the way, my name's Splendorman."

"Jaesy,"

And with that, he said his goodbye and left, leaving me alone again. _Well, _I thought, _guess he ain't that bad._

It's hot. Unbearably hot. Was it all just a dream? Am I back in my house and in my bed again? I lifted my head, still half asleep, and looked around the room. Nope, still in that strange room. Why's it hot though?

"Hey there," a male's voice said. It wasn't Splendorman's usual cheery-happy-nice voice, but a dark, husky voice. What the fuck? Where's Splendorman at? My head shot towards the strange voice and I ignored the pain that shot through my head. I felt myself pale as I took in who- or what I was looking at. I regretted waking up.

The man was definitely not Splendorman. Messy, ink black hair falling around his face and down to his shoulders, pale white skin like plastic, black lips, extremely sharp teeth, pale eyes surrounded by black. His nose was like a cone of black and white stripes, matching his sleeves and socks. He had some kind of fur on his shoulders, with black fur on the inside and white on the out. His suspenders were a really dark gray. He had long lanky arms with hands like Splendorman's, but more dagger like.

I felt as though he was staring right through me, making me paler than what I was and a cold chill run up my spine. He just smirked, amused at my obvious fear; coulrophobia at its worst. His smile vanished as he stared in confusion when I flung my head back as hard as I could and knocked myself out.


End file.
